Happy New Year

When 2008 dawned, I hoped it would be better than 2007. If anything, it has been worse.

Now, as 2008 closes, I find myself hoping 2009 will be better. Surely, anything should be better than 2008, right? Shouldn’t even a half-decent year would be better than the year that sent the economy into a tailspin?

So I hope. What was that Shelley said? “We look before and after, and pine for what is not”.

He must have been describing my annual ritual at this time of the year.

I wonder, though, at this arbitrary divide I am placing on my fate, and the fate of millions of others. Why should Thursday be better than Wednesday, just because it’s on a new calendar?

Then there is the question of whether January 1st matters. Which calendar I should really be using? Why the Gregorian? When I am thinking about the economy, should I use the custom where the business year starts on Diwali? So has the New Year already begun?

Or should I use the Hindu calendar, where the new year will only arrive in March/April? Going by that, we are now in the year Sarvadhari, which sounds better than the new year – Virodhi. What will a year called Virodhi (meaning foe or enemy) bring?

This line of thought doesn’t pay. Perhaps at some level it doesn’t even matter. So I will go back to doing what I do best – looking before and after, Janus-faced, and hoping that 2009 will have better days for all of us. Hoping that all our tomorrows will be better than today.

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13 thoughts on “Happy New Year”

Thanks for the wishes, Lekhni, and wishing you, your family and your readers the same.
Your post really spoke to me because it conveys so well how I feel about the New Year this time. I’m finding it really hard to summon up the cheer! But, as you said, 2009 has got to be better, so I will end this year on that hopeful note.
Cheers
Kamini.

Thanks for articulating that feeling better than I did! I do have mixed feelings about the New Year, but let’s hope it turns out better 🙂

I buy 16-month diaries that run from August of one year to December of the next. They help because they provide greater continuity than 12-month diaries. Which also means I usually renew diaries between August and November, and not in January. (Yes, I use diaries. Record-keeping for tax purposes is easier if it does not look easily fiddleable.)

And since I run my own business, I use the tax/ accounting year as a bigger marker than the calendar year. For me more ‘closure’ and ‘newness’ come with that than with December/ January.

I am sure others have their own ideas on this 🙂

You are right, the school year or the fiscal year is just as meaningful as the calendar year, if not more, as you can see some tangible “new beginnings” in a new school/ fiscal year.

Happy New Year to u too!
I feel basically the year academic or financial starts in April so no point making resolutions or celebrating in Jan!

That makes a lot of sense. In the US, the tax year for individuals and most companies starts in Jan, but that’s not the case in India. For a teacher (cum student 🙂 ) like you, the academic year would make the most sense..

Hey there, wish you a very happy new year!!! Your blog is one of its kind – am totally refreshed after a reading marathon here! I agree with your thoughts on the arbit rollover from Dec 31 to Jan 1. Without sounding like I’m trying to promote my blog, check out this post I’d written around New Years eve of 2008: http://sachinsworld.blogspot.com/2008/01/new-year.html

Cheers!

I read your post, and I can see we share the same sentiments about the New Year. Splurging to party in the New Year is not my favorite way of beginning the year either 🙂 I would prefer introspection over mindlessness.

Wish you and your family a great year ahead, Lekhni. You expressed what I normally feel too.. the hope never dies right…wishing and hoping the days are better than whats been. The days would’ve been great, but we always wish for better things to happen!